Timothy Soar explains why he found it a joy to photograph AHMM’s ‘surgical transformation’ of two tired 1970s buildings in London’s West End into a vibrant mixed-use quarter that is smart, with a big heart.
In the heart of London’s West End, 1 Berkeley Street has just got a serious boost. What was once a couple of tired 1970s buildings is now a vibrant, sustainable mixed-use development that blends luxury, functionality, and a whole lot of clever engineering. Spanning 240,000 square feet, it’s home to offices, retail, and the UK’s very first 1 Hotel outside North America.
Sitting right across from The Ritz on Piccadilly, this project doesn’t believe in waste. Instead of knocking everything down, the design team kept 90% of the original structure and worked some serious magic. The building is now bigger, better, and far more elegant, thanks to a majestic two-storey rooftop addition, a brand-new pavilion on the Dover Street corner, and a delightful annex tucked into Dover Yard.
At the corner of Piccadilly and Dover Street, they’ve reinstated the historic building line. The whole thing is wrapped in beautiful Portland Stone, blending old and new in a way that feels fresh but still respectful of its surroundings.
Once upon a time, Dover Yard was a car park and a delivery area—functional but far from charming. Now, it’s been completely reimagined as a publicly accessible garden courtyard. It’s the perfect little escape for both building tenants and passersby, with hotel and retail spaces giving it a lively, welcoming vibe. Thanks to copious planting it’s an oasis to stroll through, dodging the traffic and hubbub of the main road.
Just in case you’re getting the impression this was just a simple facelift—it was a full-on surgical transformation. They removed the upper floors, took out staircases, and even demolished Core D, which sounds bold: and it is. To make sure everything stayed standing, they used the existing structure to brace itself rather than bringing in bulky new support frames. Less waste. Clever, if not a little daunting. But when you’re working with a building this complex, coordination is key. Using Revit 2021 and Fabrication CADmep parts, they mapped everything out digitally to catch potential issues before they became real-world headaches.
The whole thing is mix of new-build and old structure, smack in the middle of very posh W1, and they delivered it during COVID. And they’ve managed to preserve a whole lot of embodied energy while cutting down on waste. I’m not sure, but this probably qualifies the team as miracle workers. Certainly there are few who could manage a feat like this.
So 1 Berkeley Street is setting a new benchmark for how to mix sustainability, luxury, and smart design. It’s proof that you don’t have to tear everything down to build something incredible—you just need vision, a lot of skill, a ton of tenacity and a real commitment to making places better, with heart.
